


Man in the Machine

by ismellitblue



Series: Monsters Inc [4]
Category: Doom Patrol (Comics), Doom Patrol (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Gen, Hurt, Hurt/Comfort, Major Character Injury, Major character death - Freeform, Rescue Missions, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-04
Updated: 2019-08-04
Packaged: 2020-07-31 10:06:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20113339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ismellitblue/pseuds/ismellitblue
Summary: There's not much a brain can do to escape-good thing said brain has friends crazy enough to attempt a rescue.





	Man in the Machine

**Author's Note:**

> I own nothing but the story idea.Happy reading.

Tires screech and metal sings as it bends.Blood and fuel mix together…

“Cliff!”The last thing Cliff Steele ever hears is his wife screaming out his name in terror.In the split second before his body shuts down, his mind likens the sound to the ones his mother made whenever his Dad got aggressive. The type of noise he’d sworn never to have his significant other make because of him.

Cliff Steele dies feeling like a chump.

***

“**Race car driver Cliff Steele, and his wife, died last night in a horrific car crash.The couple’s daughter Clara who was with them at the time, is the only survivor.In light of this tragedy**…”

Everyone in the manor freezes.Larry snaps the book he’s been reading shut, a hand going to his glowing chest.From her spot on the sofa Rita’s face oozes into her rum.For Jane,everything just goes quiet,something that’s never happened in the underground.When the train starts back up,she’s already in motion,Flit taking over before Driver 8 fully has the train back on track.

Flit lands them in a hospital, and after stealing some scrubs and a mask, no one questions them as they walk.

The morgue is quiet when they finally reach it-not really surprising given the occupants-and it doesn’t take long for her to find the drawer she’s looking for.The body looks nothing like the man on the TV, and a huge part of it has to do with how his skull is cracked open…not a brain in sight.

***

Jane makes her way around the hospital-keeping an eye out for people who look _too normal_.Her walk takes her to the children’s ward, and she’s just about to walk right out,when a name on a door catches her attention.

Clara Steele.

***

The girl is awake when Jane comes in.Terrified brown eyes lock onto her instantly,little cheeks trembled as she began to cry

“I want my Mommy and Daddy,”

The concept of death is nothing new to Jane and the others-but Clara clearly doesn’t know what it means.She could leave, simply walk out the room and let one of the doctors deal with it, but instead she sits down, next to the bed and takes a small hand in hers.

When Jane leaves, Clara is all cried out and asleep.When Jane leans done to brush her hair out of her face, Hammerhead takes over,and in a show of gentleness no one outside the body knows about,she places a gentle kiss on Clara’s tear streaked cheek.

“Hang in there monkey,”

***

The visit to Clara,ends up helping Jane find what she’s looking for.

A row of douchebags pass right in front of her room, their bureau badges on display, glinting along with their too fake teeth.In front of them they push a table, on top of it one Jane can make out a square shape beneath the white sheet.

Flit has the container in her hands and is half way to the manor, before the agents even realize their cargo’s been stolen.

***

Larry and Rita, as old and boring as they are, are pretty solid.

“I stole a brain, and it’s still alive”Jane says as she lands on the carpet-she shows them the brain in its glass case, connected to all the wires.In response Rita downs her whisky in one gulp and Larry turns a page on his book.

“Whose is it?”Rita asks, and the moment Jane says Cliff Steele, they nod like it couldn’t have been anyone else.

“I’ll go read up on the nutritious requirements of a human brain-I think even without a body, the brain needs nourishment,”With that Larry is off, giving all of them(Cliff’s brain included, a small wave), not a hint of disgust or fear in sight.

“Come along, I think we should find him a room, don’t you think,”

‘_Why is she such a strawberry?_’It’s easy to ignore Hammerhead’s hiss, and soon enough the other leaves Jane alone at the controls, fading into the underground.

***

After they get Cliff’s brain set up, they all sort of fall into limbo.All three of them know he’s supposed to be something more, but they can’t quite pin down what that_ more_ is.

In the end it’s the Secretary who comes through for them.

“My job is down here,”She always says,but one day,they all watch,open mouthed as she makes her way onto the train and give Driver 8 a nod.She’s on the surface for a long time, and when she comes back,there’s a sense of contentment around her,like she’s done something fulfilling.

Jane finds The Secretary’s project a day later.

It’s a schematic, a fully detailed sketch of a humanoid figure.Complete with the list of materials to build it.

Jane presents it to Larry and Rita.

“The Secretary said she remembered this from _the before time_,”None of them really remember much about the time, but they know it wasn’t anything good.

Rita and Larry, look at the sketch, they add their input.

“Why make him purely metal-all it would take to stop him would be a magnet-plus, what about rust?”Rita asks, accepting a full turkey from Larry.

“Rita’s right, plus why such a primitive nutrition tank,if something happened to it, he’d be a goner for sure.He’ll need something stronger and also multiple self sustaining back ups-I’ll work on those,”

Looking at the sketch,Jane can see their point.The original designer had purposely built these faults,probably trying to keep Cliff under their thumb.Theirs to make and theirs to break, like a little puppet.

_‘Niles Caulder’_No sooner has she thought the name, the underground rumbles and she’s barely able to maintain control.

***

For a long time, Cliff is barely conscious.He floats on the horizon of it, but he can’t quite seem to break through.

When he finally does wake up, he finds himself staring up a woman with a smile too bright to be genuine.He blinks, and instead of just her, there are two other people.

He settles on the girl dressed in black and something clicks.

“Jane?”The scowl on her face softened and she discreetly wiped a tear.

With her out of the way, the names of the other two came easily.

“Hey,Rita, “

“Hey,Larry-where’s your cat?”

***

He asks about his family- _and they don’t lie_.He remembers another, a man with kind eyes,who’d looked Cliff right in his artificial eyes and _lied,_ but this trio tells him the truth.

They sit and tell him the truth.His wife’s dead, but his daughter is alive, they tell him that years have passed, and finally Rita holds a mirror in front of his face.Letting him see what he’s become.

It’s not a good few years after that.

After the storm has passed, and Cliff has punched and punched(and on occasion, had spars with Hammerhead), he comes to appreciate their honesty.

He watches pictures with Rita during the day.Makes Jane and the others sandwiches,and plays hide and seek with Babydoll.He helps carry Larry’s plants, the two of them exchanging barbs that aren’t meant to hurt.

After they’d told him Clara was alive, Flit had taken him to her, and he’d watched his now teenage daughter from a distance.She looked so much like her mother it hurt.He’d watched her with Bump, had seen how loved she was, and Cliff had never felt so small, but the scene had made him realize something important.

He was her past, and Bump was her present and her future-seeing his old watch on the other man’s wrist had confirmed that.

Thinking of what he had still hurts, but their honesty has allowed him to heal and move on.Cliff’s not sure he’ll ever be able to repay them.

**Author's Note:**

> Chief fails once again. Kudo, comment, your support is much appreciated.


End file.
